Out of the Picture
by Year of the dog
Summary: One more soul was a part of the group. The same soul never wanted to be recognised. None of the stories you hear about the ones who saved the world are true. Naomi was her name. The one who couldn't help the trouble she got herself into.
1. The Untold

My second attempt at a Final Fantasy 9 story. My first one didn't go so well (or at least I thought it didn't) so I decided to try again. Have fun,

_**Out of the Picture**_

_The Untold_

A girl crouched quietly in the corner. Moments ago the owner of the ship, as well as most of it's crew, strode into the small room and had immediately starting talking of some mission. Funny, she thought Tantalus was a troupe of actors. It was interesting what posing as a stowaway brought in store for you.

"All right you slackers," the boss motioned for them to leave. "Let's get ready. Tonight's the only night we have to do this got it! Don't screw it up!"

The crew did their handshake thing (what was that anyway) and excited. The boss, who she still hadn't found his name yet, and one of the crew who she heard as Zidane, stayed behind. The boss stared into her corner squinting for anything abnormal about it. "If something seems amiss you fish it out alright boy," He ordered, receiving a confused stare from the boy with the tail (another odd thing about these people).

"Whatever you say boss," He answered nonchalantly and just waved it away.

After the last two left and closed the door the girl stood up. Stretching her arms far over her head she marveled at how stiff her legs got after only four hours. Gingerly stepping over the clutter she had previously hidden herself in, she took time to actually observe her surroundings.

As she had known before, the room was rather small, with knickknacks scattered around the edge. The only clean thing she saw in the room was the table in the center. 'No doubt this is a group of guys.' she thought miserably. Didn't matter though, a job was a job, and she had one to do.

She was alone. But that wasn't surprising, she had always been alone. A group was worse. Much worse then being alone. At least when you were alone all you had to look out for was yourself and no one else. No one to get in the way. No one to jeopardize the mission. Yes alone was definitely the better choice.

Picking her way to the door, she pressed her ear against the wood and listened. Hoping she was right and not going deaf she slowly twisted the knob and pushed the door open. Met with nothing but another room, this time bigger, she slipped out and closed the door behind her.

"This is too easy," she mused to herself. "Of course. They're a group of guys. Men don't pay attention to what goes on behind their backs," she continued sauntering over to the far door. "Too damn easy."

"Well look who we have here."

The girl froze at the smooth voice of one of the boys. Slowly turning around she bit her lip and closed her eyes, praying it was a sick trick of the imagination. Finally gaining the courage to open them, she was met with the eyes of the blonde haired, monkey tailed boy from before.

"How did a little girl find her way onto a big ship like this," He crossed his arms and stood up from his leaning position on the wall. "May I ask as to who the cutie I'm speaking with is?"

The girl stared at him oddly for a moment. Eyeing him carefully she moved back to sit on the table 'How many tables can you have?' "Na, Naomi Kinoshku," she answered in something slightly above a whisper.

The boy smirked at the blush crossing her cheeks. "Zidane Tribal," he answered her back. "So where did you come from? No wait don't tell me. Doesn't matter. The thing is, you've got to get out of here okay. The guys here aren't happy with people who sneak on and,"

"Zidane! Hey, what are you doing? We're," Another boy, this one she figured as Blank crashed in. "Well who is this?" He arched an eyebrow and walked over. "Stowaway huh?"

Naomi gulped and pictured in her head her fate. The one bad thing of being alone. No one was there to bail you out.

&

Zidane sighed relieved as the girl came to a halt. Turning around she clasped her hands together in front of her chest. "Do you work on this ship?"

The boy's eyes went wide as he mentally kicked himself. 'Aw man. She figured it out.'

"As you no doubt suspected," She pulled up her hood slightly, revealing her face. "I am Garnet,"

A small squeak from the corner made the princess pause. "What was that?"

"Nothing," Zidane picked up the lamp from the table and gently tossed it into the dark behind the boxes. Another squeak sounded quickly followed by a groan. "Probably just a bunch of rats."

"Zidane!" Garnet jumped behind the monkey tailed boy as another one popped in.

"It's alright Princess. That's just my friend Cinna. Though with a face like that I'd be surprised too," He reassured the girl behind him.

Cinna pouted. "That hurts. You know I wash up everyday!"

"Princess!"

Interrupted again the trio looked over at the door behind the Princess and Zidane. "This way!" Cinna motioned for them to follow and the two did willingly.

"This is a dead end," Zidane pointed out as they shut the door behind them.

Cinna smiled and nodded. "I had this installed earlier in case of emergency," he stated still smiling. "Open," the table flipped up. "Sesame," followed by a small circle shaped piece of the floor. "Hurry," he pushed, "jump in."

The two did as they were told and Cinna followed suit. They landed in the engine room and continued to run. "Nice. Didn't know you actually had good ideas," Zidane teased.

Cinna just pouted again and ignored him. "We have to hurry. The play's almost over so it'll make this easier."

As they entered another room they were met with a very angry knight. "I finally caught up with you," He smirked to himself. "Now come with me Princess. I'll rescue you from these scoundrels."

&

Steiner had rushed into the small cargo room. Having heard voices in here earlier he had no other thought in his mind. "Princess!" He called out again. Not hearing a reply he searched the room, every so often shouting another 'Princess!' into the air.

Stumbling upon something weird behind a stack of boxes he further investigated. Imagine his surprise when he found a crimson haired girl with coal colored eyes staring angrily back at him. She was bound and gagged with a faint bruise starting to form on the left side of her forehead (probably from the oil lamp seated beiside her). She stared defiantly at him, all the while struggling to escape the ropes that bound her.

Steiner, shocked, was brought out of his daze when one of his knights entered the room. "Sir! Reporting for duty Sir!" He saluted before staring quizzically at the caption's find. "A, a girl?" He asked in an almost panicked voice as the girl glared fiercely at him.

Steiner nodded before unsheathing his sword and cutting the ropes. "Are you alright?" He asked the girl gently.

Slowly she removed the sock that had acted as a gag (it tasted like five year old porridge mixed with something that smelled like vomit but tasted like rotten peas) and nodded, all the while eyeing the knight.

"Good. Now you," Steiner pointed to the man behind him. "Come we must find the Princess!" The knight nodded and followed the caption into the far room.

Naomi watched as the two excited and smirked. "Dead end idiot," She in turn was especially surprised when only the caption ran through groaning annoyed.

Shrugging the girl shook the bounds off and stood up. Stretching to relieve her stiff muscles (stiffness seemed to be her new enemy) she sighed happily at her good fortune. 'Princess is onboard now. Makes life easier.' Whistling some sort of tune she rocked her head back and forth as she headed to join the musicians up on the balcony. 'Makes life sooo much easier.'

&

Zidane and Garnet rushed through the horde of oglops. Blank's words weighing heavily on the boy's mind. Naomi had gotten out. This was looking worse and worse as it went on.

"Zidane! Get on number three!" Cinna called out.

Said boy nodded and guided the princess on with him. Cinna pulled the lever and the pair were hoisted up onto the stage above followed by an annoyed Steiner who had jumped onto another lift before it took off.

Baku looked quizzically at the three rising onto the stage before muttering a confused 'Princess?'

The girl nodded quietly and lowered her head a bit. "Just play along," Zidane whispered.

The crew nodded and Marcus stepped over to Garnet. "Cornelia!"

Garnet looked dumbfounded for a moment until Zidane explained. "Marcus' lover," He whispered to her gently.

The girl nodded and embraced the other boy. "Oh Marcus,"

The scene played on as the audience watched and a little boy was chased through the stands. From up on the balcony another audience member smirked at the little show. 'Princess. Oh princess. What to do with you.' the lone girl sang to herself.

Deciding to relieve the knight of his utter clueless state, she jumped down. Landing in the middle of the stage she prepared to order something. Opening her mouth what instead came out was something far from what she wanted. "YEOWCH!"

Naomi jumped high in the air as her backside was lit on fire. The cause of the fire reeled back and was knocked on his own butt, staring horrified at the roasting girl.

"We're leaving guys," Baku took a minute to study the frantic stowaway before shaking his head and heading offstage.

Garnet jumped up from her lying position on the floor and removed her hood. "Are you alright? Here let me help put it out," the princess helped put out the flinching girl's problem as Zidane walked over to the sitting boy.

"Hey are you okay?" he asked the child, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. The little boy nodded and stood up.

Looking around the older boy he pointed to the girl previously on fire. "Is she gonna be alright?" He asked quietly.

Zidane turned his head to look back at Naomi. "Yeah I think she'll be fine. What's your name?"

"Vivi," Was the small reply. "I can help," he stated towards Naomi.

The girl stared at the small boy. Pure horror etched on her face. "Tha, that's alright. I'm fine," she reassured him while she backed up against a prop pillar. "I'll be juuust Peachy," she put on a cheesy smile before remember her previous mission. "Oh yes. The Pendant if you please," She pointed at the small trinket around Garnet's neck.

Garnet in turn clutched it protectively and shook her head. "What is your business with it?" she questioned while backing up towards Zidane.

Steiner clambered over and unsheathed his sword at the unimpressed girl. "You will not touch the Princess scum!" He shouted. "I may not attack girls but the Princess' safety comes far before your own."

"Just hand it over little girl," Naomi pressed ignoring the knight whose anger was growing at an increasing large pace. "Come on, what'll you do with it? Just give it," She prepared to lunge and was instead thrown to the ground. Landing next to an equally confused Garnet they looked at each other then back at the castle quizzically.

Zidane yelped as a large spear was shot quite close to his left foot. "What the hell?" he pushed Vivi aside as another spear whizzed into the ship's hull.

"That's my line," Naomi commented who was now trying to keep herself, as well as Garnet from falling off the ship. "Hey Princess! Is your mom really this protective or is she just psycho?"

Garnet just scowled. "Don't you speak ill of my mother," she ordered as she clutched tighter to Naomi's hand.

"Alright I get it, no more sass," She smiled warmly down at Garnet, who gave her own shy smile.

"Would you stop speaking such inappropriate language," Steiner ordered, trying to hold on himself. "The Princess does not need to hear such vile things."

"Just shut it," Naomi retorted as sweat started to cover her forehead. She couldn't hold on any longer. Her fingers slipped and the two girls slid down the deck. Biting back the scream she was sure was about to come out Naomi pulled with all her strength and threw the bewildered girl above her. Garnet landed with a soft thud on safe ground.

"Help someone!" She shouted pointing to the falling figure.

Zidane rushed past her and slid down the deck. "I'm on it," he reassured her. Reaching his target he circled one arm around her and held tightly to a chunk of a hanging steel bar.

Naomi clutched tightly to his neck before narrowing her eyes and staring him in the face. "You're enjoying this aren't you," she stated more then asked, clearly talking about the position.

Zidane just smiled as he gave her his answer. "More then you think I am sweetie. More then you think."

The girl just sighed and clutched tighter. It wasn't exactly how she pictured the night to end, but hey. It was better bein alive.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sooo, how'd it go? Did ya like it? I really don't know how well I'm doing with these things anymore to be honest. So please review and tell me anything I should fix or do. I might also take a suggestion or two on a scene if anyone throws one out there. Well till next time see ya,

_Meg_


	2. And We all Entwine

Please forgive me for the long wait. I know you all aren't going to like any of my poor excuses but... I just kind of lost motivation for a while, and suddenly got it back. So I rushed to complete this chapter before I lost it again. I was literally writing this for three days in almost all my spare time. I'm happy you guys like this, as well as Naomi. Don't worry she's going nowhere close to being a Mary-Sue and if she does go ahead and tell me and I'll get right onto fixing that. Well here we go, second chapter. 

_And We all Entwine_

"Ugh," Naomi moaned as she woke up. Pushing herself up on her elbows she realized how close she was to her rescuer. Staring at his closed eyelids her face went entirely red as she scrambled off and backed into a nearby tree.

"You're really quite soft you know that," Zidane sat up and rubbed his forehead tenderly.

Naomi's blush increased as she resisted the urge to sock him in the nose. Standing up she clenched her fists and walked over to the wreckage site.

Zidane just smirked and stood up himself. He had meant it when he said she was soft, not in the perverted way, but had really meant it. She was almost weightless when they had hit the ground (where he had found she had a pair of lungs on herself despite her previous refusal to talk in anything but hushed or rude tones). Though he didn't mind having her body pressed against him.

Making his own way out towards the crumbled ship he sighed and just shook his head. "This is not good," Jumping down he walked over to Cinna. "What's going on?"

Cinna looked back over his shoulder. "We're getting the survivors out. We haven't found the princess yet though," He turned around fully and shook his head. "I can't believe you let go. And with that girl in your arms too. You could've killed the poor thing."

Zidane glared. "I slipped. It's kinda hard to hang on to something like that when the ship crashes! And Naomi's fine. It'll take more then that to kill her. Right Nao?" he turned around to face the girl but was met with empty air.

"Nao? Pet names already eh," Cinna just shook his head. "They're searching inside you go search the forest. Maybe we'll find the Princess."

Zidane shrugged and did as he was told. The forest, he had decided shortly, was more like a swamp or marsh. He had barely taken four feet from the wreckage site and he was already soaked halfway to his waist. It would have been slightly more enjoyable if he had some -preferably female- company. But since the others were already busy and Naomi was nowhere in sight (surprise surprise) he had to go it alone. Clucking his tongue as he escaped another pond-like trench he shook his shoe of scum and slowly made his way across the dry patch of land. The water was weighing him down as it soaked into his clothes and the slapping sound of his soggy pants was starting to irritate him.

It wasn't until the scream came, followed by one less feminine but still girlish and shouts of, "Princess!" that Zidane didn't mind being damp. With speed that was quite unexpected, the monkey-tailed boy rushed towards the screams. It didn't take him long to reach the small clearing since it was only two bogs ahead of his previous position.

Garnet was swooning inside the head of some plant-looking thing, or a Prison Cage as he had been taught years ago, and Naomi was wildly clutching at the tentacle the monster had wrapped around her midsection. No doubt it was going to try and feed her to the next of it's kind that came along (the girls were skinny, but the monster wasn't exactly on the fat side itself. Eating them both at once might pose a challenge). Steiner was off to the side shouting insults at the thing and trying to both calm and get the boy at his feet to stand and fight. The knight, it was easy to tell, was failing at both.

Jumping up to help out Zidane pulled the knight and non-to-gently pushed Vivi back with his foot. "Shouting at the thing ain't gonna get you anywhere closer to having it let them go Rusty!" he lectured the knight as he unsheathed his dagger.

"I need no help from one such as yourself. And what is this 'them' nonsense? The only one that really needs to be saved is the Princess," Steiner argued, fighting against Zidane's hold.

Naomi gave a rather sour look directed towards the two. "Gee, thanks," she snarled. "Don't I feel loved."

Zidane sighed in exasperation and gave up on the knight. "You should Nao. It's not every day that you get saved by one hot thief."

The girl gave her own sigh and kicked at the tentacle holding her. "Well isn't that nice? Flirting on the job now are we? Tsk, tsk, monkey boy. That's a big….Ahhh!"

Her sentence was cut-off as Zidane slashed at the tentacle with his dagger. The monster recoiled, taking back what little of his arm he had left, and then went to retreat into the darkness. Of course, this left Naomi suspended in midair, and gravity wasn't planning on letting her stay there long. The girl fell with grace, Zidane had to give her that. But it certainly was no picnic for him when he went to catch her. She was flailing so much that he had gotten at least three good smacks before she was safely on her feet again.

"Well, aren't you frisky," he muttered, fingering his lightly bleeding lip gingerly. She blushed at this, turning away and muttering a quick, 'sorry,'. Zidane just smiled, but with a slight wince he quickly let his expressions travel to his eyes instead. Moving his mouth at all was rather painful at this point of time. Man did she have a punch.

Naomi coughed and turned back to face them again. Her hands were quickly placed on her hips and she gave the air of nobility. "Well, are we going to go rescue her or not?"

Her question was greeted with silence. Steiner was preoccupied with Vivi and hadn't heard the girl, and Zidane had responded with a light grimace. Naomi was silent for a few more minutes before shrugging and turning on her heel. "Mise well go on my own then," she said, started off towards the monster's retreat.

Zidane shot his hand out and grabbed her by the shoulder. With a sharp tug she was pulled against his chest where he held her tightly. "There is no damn way you're going out there alone!" he hissed, tugging her backwards despite her thrashing. "Do you know what would just love eating someone like you? About everything you'll meet out there. Now come on and we'll sort out what to do."

"Which is to save the Princess naturally," Steiner had long since decided to just let Vivi sort himself out and had decided to join in on the conversation. "We cannot just leave her. She is ruler to all of you. Not to mention it's the dirty hands of yourselves that has gotten her into this mess."

Zidane rolled his eyes and continued to tug Naomi back to the ship. "Ignoring Rusty," he started, grabbing a hold of one of her more lively arms to keep his nose intact. "We'll get her back. You'll see. Zidane Tribal does not just leave a girl in trouble."

Naomi snorted at this but stopped struggling all the same. In fact she seemed rather drained, which left no surprise at all with Zidane. It wasn't every day that you were attacked by a monster, let alone a monster of that size. Naomi was a girl after-all, even if she did act tough. Zidane could also tell she wasn't used to work like this. Her earlier hesitance and ignorance of what she was going to be walking into had proven that. Skilled though she may be, she lacked enough experience to truly be able to fend for herself.

In his musings he had failed to notice the presence of another Prison Cage lurking behind them. A shriek from Vivi and Zidane whirled around in a matter of seconds. Naomi had gone for a spin with him and she felt like she was experiencing whiplash. She soon got over this though, for she was now struggling to release herself from Zidane's grip. The boy obeyed at once, rushing in himself as Naomi tumbled out of his grasp. Vivi was almost crying inside the confines of the Prison Cage, and Steiner's taunts weren't exactly helping the small boy. It didn't take them long to dispatch the monster though. Having gotten control of himself after being technically eaten, Vivi was long last able to perform his magic. A quick fire spell and a few slashes from the daggers and sword fell the monster in a matter of six minutes. The clean-up was less then favorable though. Vivi was covered in what could only be considered the monster's stomach contents, Naomi's hair was a mess of twigs and blood, and Zidane's hands were covered in a sticky fluid that was probably vomit and saliva. Steiner was the only one who seemed even remotely unscathed, though the fact that his armor was already rusty and caked with dirt in spots probably covered any blood and innards that had spattered on him pretty well.

The party was recovering when it happened. The Prison Cage deflated, and in a matter of moments seeds were flown every which way. Steiner and Vivi were pelted with the small things and eventually ended up moaning on the ground. Zidane had dodged the ones that had come his way and Naomi had managed to throw herself to the ground face first, and covered her head with her hands before any could hit her.

&

It was definitely not exactly the nicest tasting medicine. Well, to be perfectly blunt, it made him want to hurl his meals from the last three weeks. The small mage had woken with a killer headache, not to mention feeling extremely tender and sore. He didn't dare pull off a piece of clothing to check underneath. There were some things that he just didn't want to see. The possibility of his body deformed was something he best leave unchecked and just imagine that he was fine and dandy. Grandpa had always said if you believed something hard enough it would come true. Always being one to respect his elders' advice, (and since Grandpa had never been wrong so far) that's what he was going to do.

What Vivi had wanted to do was find that girl. He still hadn't properly apologized for the earlier incident. He wasn't one to just up and leave a person without a proper apology and he felt bad for not having the chance to do it earlier. He had other reasons though. She intrigued him deeply. Never had he seen a girl with eyes such as hers. Coal black and almost lifeless if you didn't look close enough. She was the opposite of him. While hers were black, his glowed the brightest of yellow. What made them similar was the loss of a pupil. He had none, and though he was pretty sure she did, it was impossible to tell with the color. They were similar, and yet opposites. So close, that he wondered if maybe they had come from the same place.

Vivi wanted nothing more than to find out where she had come from. That might help him know exactly where he had before his Grandpa had taken him in. Maybe she had known his parents. Possibilities were endless, and though he knew they were all rather childish and had low chance of being true, he wanted to ask her. Being nine years old he was still a boy, and though he was rather mature for his age he was still rather childish at heart. And childish splendors love to be fueled. So until he was able to talk to her he would continue to dream of the possibilities that might greet him.

This opportunity would probably be coming much sooner then he had expected fore no sooner had he sat up then voices rang outside of his door. And to tip the scales even better in his favor, one of the voices was a girl's. An annoyed girl's but a girl's all the same. Vivi could feel the excitement rolling off him as he waited for the pair to come to the door. He had been greeted by only the boy earlier. Though he had been happy to see the one who had saved his life he couldn't help but be disappointed. Especially when he found out that the boy had only come to give him an antidote. And a rather nasty tasting one at that. Vivi could still taste the vile concoction, even after having slept for a while.

It was when he was swallowing large quantities of saliva in a poor attempt to help annihilate the taste did the two walk in. Though it went unseen Vivi blushed and quickly stopped his slurping. He was greeted with a rather soft look from the boy of earlier, and the ignorance of the girl he had so desperately wanted to see. The boy's heart leapt in joy and Vivi found it hard to keep all of his questions inside of himself. But he managed and instead gave a small, and somewhat forced (for not only had it tasted bad, but the fluid had downright burned) 'Hello,' He then shut his mouth and stared hopefully at the two, or more specifically the girl. Though he did notice the distance she had put between them that looked almost purposefully done.

"Ahem," Vivi's attention was sent to the boy, who was busy both clearing his throat and trying not to look guilty. The nine-year-old was actually somewhat startled to find that his left eye was a tad darker then the other, though his rather long blonde bangs hid it quite well, and he looked like he had just come back from a scuffle. "We were wondering," he started, then paused. Seeming to decide that was a bad approach, the boy cleared his throat again and re-started. "I know I asked yours, but I don't believe I gave you my name." Vivi thought a moment before shaking his head, though it didn't seem as though the boy was planning on listening to him no matter his answer. "I'm Zidane. This here," he motioned to the girl next to him, who gave a short bow of her head but no other indication of even listening, "is Naomi. It certainly looks like you're feeling better."

Vivi gave a nod and refrained from commenting on how much he had actually liked the small concoction. He instead smiled and piped in with a, "Very nice to meetcha."

Zidane nodded and gave his own smile, a bit of the earlier tension leaving his face. He seemed to take this as on indication to go on to more important matters since he started yet another topic in a matter of moments. "We wanted to know if you were up to going out into the forest and rescuing the Princess," It was obvious that hadn't been how he had meant to say it. He grimaced slightly and the girl gave him a rather harsh stare, which he seemed to notice for he gave a sheepish smile in return.

Giving an annoyed sigh the girl took a step closer to the bed, still effectively keeping her distance. "What he meant was, if you were able and wanting to. We know how tough it is, and we don't want to cause unnecessary trouble for you," she gave another harsh glance at Zidane, and Vivi swore her heard her mumble something about her already having been. But she turned right back and continued on as if there had been no pause whatsoever. "We thought, having possessed such amount of skill that you would be helpful. But we do not wish to trouble you with such things if you were not willing."

It was then that he felt inclined to jump up and nod his head vigorously. The little boy didn't know why, exactly he had done this. His only answer was that he still didn't know much about the girl and he was going to hold fast to his fantasies until they were shot down in reality. Of course he didn't want to admit this. For one, it was a very embarrassing issue, and as another problem, he didn't want to seem anymore weaker and more childish then he already had. So he opted to explain himself with another issue that actually had come to mind when he had nodded his small head.

"Well, I-I'm part of the reason she was taken away," Vivi explained, his eyes refusing to meet either of the others' for shame. "I think it would be best if I went to save her. And," he paused to clumsily adjust his hat in embarrassment. "I want to. Really, really want to. I feel bad for letting her get taken instead of me. If I had done something then maybe she'd still be here."

The girl had taken this opportunity to cross the gap between them and place a delicate hand on top of his hat. "You're alright. Heart of gold eh? It's nice to see something so innocent these days," with that she retracted her hand and turned to face Zidane. "Unlike some people I've come to know," Vivi didn't understand this, but Zidane had given her a rather smug smirk. Giving a sigh Naomi cocked her head towards the door. "We better go see the tin-can. Loath as I am to say it he might just come in handy," And with that she was off towards their only exit.

Vivi practically had stars in his eyes. She had complimented him. In all his childhood he had never had anyone tell him anything nice but Grandpa, and most the time Grandpa was lecturing him. The girl was acting positively nice to him now. He immediately came out of his trance though as he remembered one of the original reasons he had wanted to see her. Jumping off the bed and rushing past Zidane he tumbled to a stop by crashing into her leg. The girl gave a start and almost toppled over with the little boy in tow. It was at that time that Zidane chose to break into laughter. Vivi felt like a small child and quickly stepped away from her, adjusting his hat to keep from looking up at either of them.

It was Naomi that had decided to argue. She wasn't one to just be laughed at, especially if the comical thing wasn't committed by her. "Now listen here Zidane Tribal," she barked, earning herself another grin from the blonde. "You shut up now or so help me,"

"You'll what?" he asked, striding over and taking the hand she was currently shaking in his. "You couldn't hurt a face as pretty as mine now could you?"

He had purred this in her ear and Naomi went bright red. "Think what you want!" she shouted, throwing his hand away from hers like it was some disgusting bug. "But I swear, you'll get what's coming to you someday." This time she really did leave. And she did it with such grace and fluidity that even Vivi, who was standing by the door, had barely caught her escape.

"That's rather interesting," a sly grin etched itself onto the other occupant of the room's. "Rather interesting indeed."

The small boy looked quizzically over at the blonde and cocked his head. He kept his mouth shut in hopes that the boy would continue but it didn't seem likely. Instead, Zidane decided to come over and give a sunny smile down at him. "Whelp Vivi," he started, motioning his head to the door. "She ain't gonna wait for us. Shall we follow the little princess."

Since he had no intentions of letting the girl leave on him without first confirming or denying his fantasies Vivi nodded his head enthusiastically. "Y-yeah. Mr. Zidane."

The blonde clucked in disgust. "There'll be none of that Mister," he told the younger boy, shaking a finger to emphasize his point. "Never did like it. Zidane's just fine. And I'll call 'ya Vivi." Stepping outside there was another, slightly muffled cluck from the monkey-tailed boy. "She has to be so difficult," he muttered to himself. "Couldn't she just wait for a minute or two? What does she think I am, an airship?"

Vivi gave a small smile and went off to follow the boy. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he had first thought. They were going to rescue the Princess, the girl that had been so nice to him before. And he got to travel with the other girl, if only for awhile. '_Naomi,'_ He liked that name. It was pretty in it's own way. And Zidane didn't seem all that bad either. The boy seemed rather nice to. It was the knight that worried him. He hadn't been all that good at listening earlier, and Vivi wasn't good with pushy people. Especially considering he was a push-_over. _But all of that would be decided later. Right now he wasn't about to be left behind.

* * *

There you go. I know Vivi was a bit out-of-character. I really tried to convey the feelings of adoration, but I'm not entirely sure I did it right. It should be okay though. And just in case you were wondering, Zidane doesn't exactly like Naomi that much. It's the playful flirting he does with almost every other girl. I believe I'm still keeping the original pairing of him and Dagger unless you all want it to change. Until next time,

_Years_


End file.
